Panasonic is entering the studio camera market in Europe for the first time with the introduction of the AK-HC3500 early next year, writes David Fox.
The AK-HC3500 is a one-body 1080i camera, with three 2/3-inch 2.2-megapixal IT-CCDs, 14-bit A/D converter, 38-bit digital signal processor and spatial offset processing for greater sensitivity.
It also has fibre output. Although many broadcasters have a triax infrastructure, Christian Sokcevic (pictured), Panasonic’s director of professional AV Europe, believes that triax is showing its limitations in an era of 1080p and 3D. “Fibre optic is surely the futureproof system. We understand that customers have an existing infrastructure, but I’m confident we will find some sort of solution to integrate our cameras with them.”
It has been selling studio cameras in other markets for years, but the European Union’s former anti-dumping levy made it uneconomic to supply such cameras here, and introducing the €36,000 AK-HC3500 will allow gain a foothold that it hopes to expand on. “For us, as a European organisation, we need to get closer to our customers and understand their requirements so we can implement their requests in our future products,” he added.
The studio line-up will be expanded during 2012 with additional types of camera head.
Stand:9.B42, 9.C45, 9.D40
